Mr O Ogunfuwa v D I Insurance Services Ltd — 2019

This was an open preliminary hearing listed to decide whether Mr O Ogunfuwa was a disabled person within the meaning of section 6 Equality Act 2010 at the material times. He had brought complaints of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, but the hearing on 13 May 2019 was directed only to the disability issue. The case was heard by Employment Judge Tsamados sitting alone.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant had Granulomatous Vasculitis with Sarcoidosis, but found on the contemporaneous medical evidence that the condition did not begin until it was diagnosed on 29 September 2016. The tribunal also found that the substantial adverse effects described in the claimant’s evidence lasted only until around the end of April 2017. It found that he was not taking any medication from February 2017 until around early November 2017, and that by August 2017 his symptoms were relatively mild.

Applying section 6 Equality Act 2010 and Schedule 1 paragraph 2, the tribunal considered whether the impairment had a substantial and long-term adverse effect or was likely to recur. It referred to Boyle v SCA Packaging Ltd and McDougall v Richmond Adult Community College on the meaning of long-term and the assessment of recurrence. The tribunal concluded there was insufficient evidence that the adverse effect was likely to recur at the material time.

The tribunal therefore held that Mr Ogunfuwa was not a disabled person at the material times and that it had no jurisdiction to hear his disability discrimination complaint, which was dismissed. The judgment records that case management of the remaining unfair dismissal complaint would be dealt with separately.